Germany suspects sabotage after damage to undersea cables

Infrastructure operators have reported two incidents, affecting several NATO states

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that the rupture of two internet cables under the Baltic Sea, connecting NATO member states, appears to be a coordinated act of sabotage.

Infrastructure operators reported the severing of two separate lines on Sunday and Monday. Over the past year, several similar incidents have occurred in the area. In one such case, Finland and Estonia were quick to point the finger at Russia – only to discover later that a Chinese cargo ship’s anchor had caused the breakage.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Pistorius referred to the latest incidents, saying: “No one believes that these cables were severed by accident.”

According to Pistorius, “with this in mind, we have to state – not knowing exactly who is behind it – that we’re talking about a hybrid” attack. The German defense minister added that there was a “clear indication that something is going on here.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, along with her Finnish colleague Elina Valtonen, stated that “the fact that such an incident immediately raises the suspicion of deliberate damage speaks volumes about the instability of our time.”

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Cinia, a Finnish state-owned data services provider, reported the breakage of its C-Lion1 on Monday evening. The line spans some 1,173-kilometers (729 miles), connecting the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to the German city of Rostock. According to the infrastructure operator, the damaged section is situated in Swedish waters, away from the main maritime routes in the area. Cinia’s representatives said they suspected anchor-related damage. A spokesperson told reporters: “at the moment, there isn’t a possibility to assess the reason for the cable break.”

The C-Lion1 runs close to the now-defunct Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were put out of operation by several underwater explosions in September 2022. While the Western media has claimed a group of Ukrainian desperados pulled off the act of sabotage, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have pointed the finger at the US.

On Sunday, another underwater cable – the BCS East-West-Interlink, which connects Lithuania to Sweden – was also reported to have been seriously damaged. The cause has not been identified.

Last Monday, Nikolay Patrushev, who previously led Russia’s Security Council and is currently an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, alleged that the US and UK were considering attacks on “infrastructure facilities, including undersea fiber optic cables.”